Knife-wielding Wembley teenager jailed for slapping and threatening to kill Tube worker

Siti Awled, of District Road, had to be held down by friends as she threatened to “stab and kill” a member of staff with a kitchen knife at Acton Town Tube station on October 9.

The 19-year-old had been swearing and threatening a person she was speaking to on the phone when she arrived at the station with two friends, police said.

The group were trying to jump the barriers using one Oyster card between them when a staff member approached them and told them to stop swearing as there were children present.

Awled became abusive, threatened the staff member, and then slapped her in the face. When her friend tried to intervene she was also slapped.

As Awled walked away staff asked her again to leave the station but she turned to face the woman and waved a kitchen knife at her.

Her friends wrestled her down to the ground while the staff member retreated to the office.

Awled left the station and threw the knife in a garden before being arrested in a nearby road by British Transport Police firearms officers.

She pleaded guilty to affray, possession of an offensive weapon and two counts of common assault when she appeared before Blackfriars Crown Court on May 8.

Awled was sentenced on May 26 at the same court to 10 months’ imprisonment in a young offender institution for affray, four months’ imprisonment for possession of an offensive weapon and two months’ imprisonment for each assault to run concurrently.

Det Con Ross McAlpine said: “Everyone has the right to travel and work in a safe environment without fear or intimidation. This was a particularly frightening experience for the staff who were working at the station at the time.

“I hope Awled takes the time to reflect upon her actions and realises that behaviour like this will never be tolerated on the rail network and police officers will always do everything they can to ensure that people are not only safe where they work and travel, but that they also feel safe.”